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Theme Of Love In La Belle Dame Sans Merci

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Bitter. Sweet. Tender. Love. This subjective idea may refer to a concept, a feeling, an attitude, an emotion, one could have towards another. Throughout history, one’s perception on love may vary due to the ideology they were being indoctrinated with as well as their family background. Given that different historical periods may affect one’s perception on their idea of love, an analysis on the poems “La Belle Dame sans Merci” by John Keats, “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, and “Mother in a Refugee Camp” by Chinua Achebe, will be made in order to examine and explore how poets living in different times present love in their own unique approach.

‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ is a ballad written by English poet John Keats in the year 1819, where …show more content…

When the knight and the woman was having a sexual intercourse, “She looked at him as she did love, / And made sweet moan” The declarative, “she looked at him as she did love“expresses the idea of unrequited love. The woman may have only decided upon having a sexual intercourse with him to favour his sexual desires, yet it does not represent that she has an affection for him. On the other hand an iambic tetrameter is also used in the same quotation as a motif of the knight’s heartbeat, this represents the excitement and passionate emotions he has within the relationship and sexual intercourse. A sense of negativity can be seen in the line “And made sweet moan”, the iambic dimeter in this line has a foreboding effect to it, hinting that love between the woman and the knight will not last long. Likewise to “La Belle Dame sans Merci”, Keats’ short poem “The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone!” also signifies his role in the Romanticism movement by the reinforcement of his individual expression and obsessive nature towards his lover Fanny Brawne. This is evident when Keats display the sincere and direct emotions of himself in the title “The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone!” The dependent clause, ‘“and all its sweets are gone”’ is a metaphor that the sweetness of their relationship has disappeared due to the distance between Keats and Brawne. This metaphor can be likened to “La Belle Dame sans Merci” through the knight’s loneliness and sentimental emotions when he waits for the woman he loves. The intensifier “all” reinforces Keats’ desires to see Brawne, not seeing her for a day does not only signify the loss of sweetness, but also marking the end of his day. He is eager to see Brawne, and by not seeing her the sweetness of his day, the significance of his day has vanished, disappeared. This poem can

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